HIST291 – Lecture Week 1 (Wednesday)

Lecture topic: 300 and Spartan society

Lecture by Robert Carr

300 is a post 9/11 movie that deals with one of the most famous events in the ‘clash’
between West and East: the battle of Thermopylae during the Greek Persian wars. It does
not claim to be history but a form of fictionalised history based on a graphic novel by
Frank Miller. There are obviously fantasy elements within the film that are designed to
heighten the dramatic effect. Nevertheless the film does contain historical material mixed
with both fiction and fantasy.

Above: Frank Miller’s 300’.

Image from: http://img.wallpaperstock.net:81/frank-miller%27s%3a-300-wallpapers_16076_1152x864.jpg

Historical background:
There were Greek cities on both sides of Aegean. The Greek cities (or ‘Ionian’ cities) on
the Asian mainland had become part of the Persian empire c.540 BCE and they had
revolted against Persian rule in 499 BC. They were supported by Athens and Eretria
(located just north of Athens). Athens’ support was based in part on kinship with their

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fellow Ionians. When the revolt collapsed in 494 the Persians sought to punish the
Athenians and the Greeks on the mainland.

The first attempted invasion was in 490 when the Athenian hoplites defeated a Persian
army at Marathon. The second invasion under Xerxes took place in 480, and it was a
massive operation using both land and naval forces. There was an attempt by the Greeks
to halt the invaders at Thermopylae by land and at Artemisium by sea. Then there was a
successful naval battle largely by the Athenians and Corinthians at Salamis. The
following year (479BCE), this was followed up by a successful land battle at Plataea in
which the Spartans played a central role and a naval victory at Mycale off the Asian
coast.

Map source: http://explorethemed.com/Images/Maps/PersianWars936.jpg

The Persian Wars were won by the combination of land and naval forces, of Athenians
and Spartans. These were great victories of a collection of small states over the super
power of its day. It was matched by a victory of the Greeks in Sicily over a large
Carthaginian force in 480.

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Its major effect was the creation of Athenian power and the consolidation of Athenian
democracy, leading to a struggle for power between Athens and Sparta. Our major source
for the Persian Wars is Herodotus’ Histories which are sometimes accused of being pro-
Athenian. It is a large work that deals with the factors leading up to the war and the war
itself. Xenophon is also a major source, though he is often accused of being pro-Spartan.

Hoplite infantry
Greek history, as it has come down to us, is largely about Athens and Sparta. Athens was
to become a great naval power that created a naval empire. Sparta was a major land
power based on the reputation of its hoplite infantry. Heavy infantry.

Hoplite infantry fought in a phalanx, shield in one hand, spear in the other, and it moved
together as a unit. It worked best on flat land. The Greeks did not make much use of
cavalry and they did not like the use of archers which they thought cowardly. (Cavalry
was less prominent in Greek military campaigns until mid-4th century BCE, when the
Macedonians under Phillip II then Alexander the Great perfected the strategic use of
cavalry in the ‘Companions’ regiment.) Traditional Greek warfare was ritualised. It also
worked best if the phalanx advanced at a run. To be member of the phalanx required that
you own the requisite armour and weapons.

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Above image source:
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wstevens/history221/image
s/phalanx.jpg&imgrefurl=https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wstevens/history221/polis.html&usg=__li2qf4
wI0sRLiJrTEhkTyyLY3ss=&h=283&w=576&sz=185&hl=en&start=122&tbnid=5K8lY1LVbmf8fM:&tbn
h=66&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dphalanx%2Bformation%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%
3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D108

Above image source: https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wstevens/history221/images/phalanx.jpg

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As we can see in this image, musical instruments were used to keep pace and timing
during the march or advance of a phalanx – usually via pipes or drums.

Sparta: what do we know about the Spartans?

There is an anecdote about a Spartan who had painted a life-sized fly for his emblem on
his shield. Many soldiers painted fierce animals on their shields to intimidate the enemy
or to represent the kind of fighter they imagines themselves to be – lions or even dragons
would be obvious choices for design. When accused of cowardice - because his enemies
wouldn’t be able to recognise him - he responded that the fly would be the size of a lion
when he bore down on his enemy in battle.

Sparta was a militarised society that did not leave behind much in the way of civilised
products. They built most buildings with wood rather than stone, which is why there is

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hardly anything to see of the ancient city today – unlike Athens, where there are plenty of
stone and marble ruins.

Certainly almost no literature except some poetry. This is a poem by the 7th century BCE
Greek poet Tyrtaeus who lived in Sparta (probably a Spartan citizen but that is disputed).
Mostly only fragments remain of his writings.

‘Spartan Soldier’ by Tyrtaeus

It is beautiful when a brave man of the front ranks,
falls and dies, battling for his homeland,
and ghastly when a man flees planted fields and city
and wanders begging with his dear mother, aging father, little children and true wife.
He will be scorned in every new village,
reduced to want and loathsome poverty; and shame
will brand his family line, his noble
figure. Derision and disaster will hound him.
A turncoat gets no respect or pity;
so let us battle for our country and freely give
our lives to save our darling children.
Young men, fight shield to shield and never succumb
to panic or miserable flight,
but steel the heart in your chests with magnificence
and courage. Forget your own life
when you grapple with the enemy. Never run
and let an old soldier collapse
whose legs have lost their power. It is shocking when
an old man lies on the front line
before a youth: an old warrior whose head is white
and beard gray, exhaling his strong soul
into the dust, clutching his bloody genitals
into his hands: an abominable vision,

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foul to see: his flesh naked. But in a young man
all is beautiful when he still
possesses the shining flower of lovely youth.
Alive he is adored by men,
desired by women, and finest to look upon
when he falls dead in the forward clash.
Let each man spread his legs, rooting them in the ground,
bite his teeth into his lips, and hold.

(This and other poems by Tyrtaeus are accessible at http://www.spartan-

world.de/tyrtaeus2_text.html)

We see Sparta through the eyes of others, often Athenians, sometimes hostile, sometimes
sympathetic. As noted earlier, one of the main sources is the Athenian Xenophon (born c.
430, died 354 BC) who wrote about life in Sparta – after having been exiled from Athens
for fighting with Sparta against his hometown during the final stages of the
Peloponnesian war.

Why then would we use the Spartans as the symbols of the defence of Greek and
therefore ‘Western’ freedom against the East?

Main features of Spartan society; Spartan social structure

Spartans are more correctly known by their regional name, ‘Lacedaemonians’. There
were a class of elites called ‘Spartiates’ within Lacedaemonia (or Lakonia), but they were
actually just the elite minority within the wider population. Spartans were actually
outnumbered by their helots (serfs). The background to this social system is:

• The Spartans had conquered their neighbours in Messenia in the 8th century BCE
and enslaved the population. This enabled them to become full time soldiers
while the slaves (or ‘helots’) did the work of running the estates. They needed to
become soldiers to keep the helots in check – they even had annual helot “culls”.

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 • There were only a small number of Spartiates who were homoioi or equals
regardless of wealth. Spartiates were the patrician class, the elites with full
citizenship.
• So, Spartiates were at the top (Spartan citizens), followed by free men with the
power to run their own communities (perioikoi) and then helots (slaves) at the
bottom. (Rhodes, 2007, p. 58)
• Within the Spartiate class, there were two hereditary kings, who were the
religious heads of state and heads of the army
• There was also council of elders (gerousia), comprising the kings + 28-men aged
over 60 who were elected from privileged families
• There was also an assembly of citizens with some power over decision making
• And, there were 5 ephors, civilian heads of state elected annually from the
citizenry

Spartiate education and lifestyle

Ideal was the production of warriors who would conform to group norms. But there was
also an element of competition within that conformity. Male children were removed from
their mothers at 7 and brought up roughly, made to go barefoot, wear only a single cloak,
kept hungry, encouraged to steal food but whipped if they got caught, older boys could
whip younger ones for delinquency. The education system was thus a military training
“boot camp”, called ‘agoge’, probably introduced between 6th and 7th centuries BCE (see
Cartledge, 2001).

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 • This scene from 300 pictured above shows a 7 year old boy (the 7 year old
Leonidas) being taken away to begin agoge. Disciplined by their education, the
boys were also supervised by an older man. They could also be disciplined by any
Spartan adult. The Spartans were into paedophilia.
• At age 20 the boys joined a dining club or mess syssitia, lived there until 30, and
afterwards to eat a daily meal there. Had to make a contribution to the meal. If
he could not then he could lose his citizenship.
• Ideal model was a virtuous soldier who was willing to die for the common good,
who was accustomed to living a plain lifestyle who honoured the aged and who
spoke little (laconic). Hence the abolition of ‘all needless and superfluous arts’,
the prohibition of gold and silver and the use of iron as currency. These were part
of the laws set out (possibly, the issue is disputed by historians) by the nobleman
Lycurgus in the 8th century BCE, who established the military-oriented
reformation of Spartan society, and the system of having a senate of twenty-eight
men to counter-balance the power of the two kings. The people were given the
right to vote on important questions, though the senate decided when a vote would
be taken. His reforms were directed towards the three Spartan virtues: equality
(among citizens), military fitness, and austerity (Forrest, 1968).

Women in Sparta
Aristotle, writing in the late 4th century BCE, stated that women were inferior to men in
Athenian society, that women as a sex are by nature inferior to men and marked out from
birth for subjection to them, as slaves are to their masters (Cartledge in Whitby, 2002, p.
134 and p. 137). He wrote that female excellence consisted merely in bodily beauty and
physique, sexual self-control and modesty, and liberal industriousness (Cartledge in
Whitby, 2002, p. 137).

However, Athenian and Spartan women were, in many ways, worlds apart. Powell (in
Whitby, 2002, p. 94) notes that Sparta’s small citizen population (remembering that only
Spartiates were full citizens) meant that it continually stretched its human resources. The

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men were soldiers almost consistently engaged in warfare, so women took over many of
the roles in terms of the administration of home affairs. This situation was remarkably
different to that faced by their Athenian sisters who played virtually no role on public
affairs.

Powell notes that some women were even rich enough in their own right to be patrons of
sports like chariot teams, saying ‘it was wealth rather than manliness which counted in
this sphere’ (in Whitby, 2002, p. 97).

Writing about Sparta, Aristotle said that 2/5th of Spartan land (Lakonia) was controlled by
women (Cartledge in Whitby, 2002, p. 137). The reasons for this include that Spartan law
did not prevent citizens (male or female) from receiving gifts of land or land being
bequeathed to them e.g. via a will). There were many documented cases of heiresses who
were given land as part of a marriage dowry by their fathers (Cartledge in Whitby, 2002,
pp. 137-138).

Famous art work by Edgar Degas -Spartan Girls Challenging (c.1860), from: http://www.famous-
painters.org/Edgar-Degas/edgar-paintings/14.jpg

Spartiate girls were educated much differently to boys. While boys left home at the age of
7 for agoge, Spartan girls – like their counterparts in other Greek city-states – resided

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with their parents until married. However, unlike their Greek counterparts, Spartan girls
were also given some form of public education, which included things like weaving and
baking (Cartledge in Whitby, 2002, pp. 140-141). They were also encouraged to enhance
their physical strength, participating in competitive sports and games in events ranging
from running to discus, javelin and wrestling. According to Xenophon and Plutarch, a
Spartan girl’s education was confined to physical exertions and designed to serve
exclusively eugenic ends (i.e. to produce strong mothers of healthy infants). This was
because mortality was not infrequent during childbirth. (Cartledge in Whitby, 2002, pp.
142-143).

In terms of dress, it is said that non-Spartan Greeks were shocked that Spartan girls
would normally appear in public either nude or scantily clad after puberty (Cartledge in
Whitby, 2002, p. 142). Plato also writes that women were not afraid to speak their mind,
and this comes through very strongly in the film 300 in the figure of Queen Gorgo. It is
thought that Spartan women were also basically literate, like their male counterparts
(Cartledge in Whitby, 2002, p. 143).

Marriage in Sparta was more or less random selection, and because boys and girls grew
up living different worlds, it was unlikely there was anything like courtship before
marriage. There are a number of theories about how marriage was organised. Some
sources suggest that young men and women would enter a dark room, and a male would
select a wife in the dark. Others tell stories about marriage as a kind of public trial or
sport – where males would kidnap their wives, and if he could get her back to his home,
then they would automatically be man and wife. It was also permitted under Spartan law
for siblings to marry. (Cartledge in Whitby, 2002, esp. p. 151).

What liberty were the Spartans defending?

In Herodutus’ Histories (c.450s-420s BCE), he captures the Spartan attitude on freedom
in his review of the origins of the Greco-Persian wars:

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 ‘thou knowest well what it is to be a slave, but thou hast never yet made trial of
freedom, whether it is pleasant to the taste or no; for if thou shouldest make trial
of it, thou wouldest then counsel us to fight for it not with spears only but also
with axes.’ (Herodotus vii 136)

The film makes numerous references to the idea that the 300 Spartans were fighting for
“freedom”, “liberty”, “justice” and “reason”. Freedom in Spartan society was the liberty
of free Spartiates to rule themselves, to exploit their helots and to practice their
paedophilia. It was not what we would understand by ‘individual liberty’. It was certainly
not democracy.

Nevertheless, classicists such as Paul Cartledge and Victor Davis Hanson have praised
the movie in its portrayal of the Spartans. It does capture their militaristic culture.

In the UK’s The Guardian (2006), Cartledge writes:

‘Artistically, 300 is quite powerful, but some of the content is problematic. The
movie doesn't really make it clear that although, yes, there were 301 Spartans
(300 plus the king), behind those soldiers were about 7,000 other Greeks allied to
Sparta. It's also impossible to know exactly what the battle of Thermopylae was
like, but we do know it would have been a very untypical Greek battle because of
the terrain: there was a narrow passage next to the sea, only wide enough for two
chariots. For two days Xerxes, the king of Persia, hurled his best troops at the
Spartans, but because the front was so narrow only a few could reach the fighting.

We see the Spartans fighting monsters, obviously a fantasy - and the rhinoceros
and war elephants don't seem very likely either. But the most controversial aspect
of the film is the portrayal of the Persians. They look a bit like the Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles. The real emperor Xerxes was not a 10ft-tall god-king with
multiple piercings. I can understand why the Iranians are upset about this.
However, I think they're wrong to assume that the film-makers are making a

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 comment on the Middle East, simply because it takes a very long time to develop
a movie.

Few cultures have celebrated the naked male body in the way the Greeks did. But
the Spartan king Leonidas refers to the Greeks as “boy lovers”, suggesting they
are decadent. The irony is that the Spartans were literally boy lovers: they
incorporated a form of pederasty into their educational system, as a way of
turning a boy into a warrior.

I did enjoy 300. While it makes no pretence to veracity, it gripped me and kept me
entertained.’

(from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/apr/02/features.arts )

There is selective use of real bits of ancient text. For example, ‘Come back with your
shield or on it’, was known to be a Spartan phrase (as noted by Plutarch in the 1st century
ACE). The line about fighting in the shade is straight from Herodotus. It is this mix of
history and fantasy that makes it so hard to evaluate.

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The emphasis of Leonidas and Gorgo as lovers - a way of avoiding the issue of Spartan
homosexuality? The Spartans are “real men”, as Gorgo says, yet paradoxically
homosexuality and paedophilia are absent from the film. We can also see how the model,
idealised Spartan portrayed in the film 300 meshes quite nicely with that of Maximus
(played by Russel Crowe) in Gladiator, for those interested in pursuing this film as a
comparative example in your essays.

What then of the accuracy of events?

• The pit of death (as pictured from the film below)? Persian ambassadors arrived
in Sparta ten years earlier, when Cleomenes was king. They were thrown into the
well. The Spartans then regretted what they had done and two Spartans went to
Xerxes at Susa to offer themselves to be killed but Xerxes refused to kill them.

• Xerxes had an exiled Spartan king Demaratus travelling with him.

• The Ephors and the Kings: the Ephors were magistrates who had as their special
task to keep an eye on the kings. They were formal part of the political structure
created by Lycurgus as a way of avoiding tyranny of kings and the anarchy of the
people.
• Gorgo was Leonidas’ niece – the royal families in Sparta would have married
within their own ranks. Incest was common in the ancient world.
• The Oracle’s prophecy regarding the death of a Spartan king is detailed in
Herodotus;

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‘But as for you, ye men who in wide-spaced Sparta inhabit,
Either your glorious city is sacked by the children of Perses,
Or, if it be not so, then a king of the stock Heracleian
Dead shall be mourned for by all in the boundaries of broad Lacedemon.
Him nor the might of bulls nor the raging of lions shall hinder;
For he hath might as of Zeus; and I say he shall not be restrained,
Till one of the other of these he have utterly torn and divided.’
(Herodotus vii 220)

The character Ephialtes (as pictured above) was not a deformed Spartan. The real
Ephialtes was a Malian Greek from the town of Trachis, west of Thermopylae. Hoping
for a reward, he informed the Persian army of a pass through the mountains that would
allow them to circle around behind the Spartan forces. He stayed on with the Persian
court after the battle but when the Persians were defeated at the Battle of Salamis,
Ephialtes fled north, as there was now a reward offered for his death.

The Ephialtes in Frank Miller’s story was a Spartan child who was deformed from birth.
The real, historical Spartan way was to take babies that were too small, weak or sickly to
the pine-covered slopes of nearby Mt. Taygetos. They would be left there to die. In
Miller’s novel and the film 300, Ephialtes’ parents instead fled Sparta for an anonymous

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life in the country. His father taught him Spartan ways of fighting, but because of his
deformities he was physically incapable of fighting properly. Offering his services to
Leonidas to fight in the phalanx and thereby redeem his family’s honor, the King rejected
his help. Ephialtes then turned to the enemy for acceptance.

Dilios (played by David Wenham, above) is fictional. Herodetus says that there were
three Spartan soldiers who survived the battle, not one. One of the Spartan soldiers who
lived was named Aristodemus, who survived because of an eye injury as Leonidas had
sent him away from the front. But when he returned to Sparta he was accused of
cowardice, though he went on to redeem himself at Plataea. The second was named
Eurytes, who had suffered eye injuries as well and could barely see. He died shortly after
returning to Sparta due to injuries. The third soldier was Pantites who missed the final
battle because he was sent by Leonidas on a diplomatic mission to Thessaly. Confronted
by public shame, Pantites committed suicide by hanging. So the character of Dilios is
probably closest to the real life Aristodemus.

Who was at Thermopylae?

The Spartans took their helots with them. There were also the following numbers of
Hellenes who awaited the attack of the Persians in this place (Herodotus vii 202):

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 • 300 Spartan hoplites
• 1000 from Tegea and Mantineia (500 from each)
• 120 from Orchomenos in Arcadia
• 1000 from the rest of Arcadia
• 400 from Corinth
• 200 from Phlius
• 80 from Mykene
• 700 Thespians
• 400 Thebans

The Spartan 300 were meant as an advance guard with more to follow.

Orientalism
On a point of definition, the term ‘orientalism’ was used by Edward Said (1978) to
describe the Western tradition in art and academic studies of prejudiced, outsider
interpretations of the East, ultimately shaped by the attitudes of European imperialism in
the 18th and 19th centuries.

As noted by Cartledge, this movie did not please Iran. Note how the oriental Persians are
portrayed as corrupt and decadent. Note also how Ephialtes is corrupted by this luxury. In
fact Spartans had a tendency to be corrupted, even accepting the aid of the Persians
during the Peloponnesian wars. What might be argued, though, is the Spartans would
have likely been confronted by the multicultural composition of Xerxes army. Xerxes had
soldiers drafted from all corners of his empire, which stretched from modern-day
Afghanistan to Egypt, Turkey and the Middle East.

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Animals from across the empire would have been brought as well – if not for military
purposes, but for psychological reasons. The unnerving of the sight of unfamiliar beasts
was well know to military commanders in the ancient world. This is exactly why, for
example, Julius Caesar rode an elephant in Britain during Rome’s first contact with that
island and its people. It amplified his divinity and strength in the minds of the locals, and
must have been an awesome and terrifying sight. We see this kind of battle psychology
being played out in 300. All kinds of animals and deformed human beings are used by
Xerxes at different times throughout the battle. On the other hand, this also highlights the
“human-ness” and “normality” of the Spartans, and the “monstrosity” of their enemies.
No wonder many Iranians would be upset by the film.

Note, too, the reversal of sexuality in regards to how the Persians and Spartans are
depicted in Herodotus’ accounts and the film 300. Xerxes (pictured above) and his
entourage are almost entirely sexualised, if not consumed by sensuality and fetishism.

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The historical depiction of Xerxes consists of a wavy beard and tall hat, typical of Persian
royal dress (image below from http://i1-news.softpedia-
static.com/images/news2/Persians-The-Zoroastrian-civilization-7.jpg).

The costume worn by Xerxes in the film is based on Miller’s graphic novel, but his
portrayal nevertheless emphasises the excessive wealth of the Persian ‘Great Kings’ –
something Alexander the Great discovered 150 years or so later, upon sacking town after
town across the Persian empire. In this sense, though, the film does capture the
mythological affiliation with the East held by ancient Greeks (and later Romans). Later
Roman generals would seek commands in the East because of the gold and wealth
rumoured to be waiting for them (e.g. Pompey and Crassus).

The Persian perspective… How barbarian were the Persians?

The Persians undertook many architectural and engineering accomplishments. The great
palaces at Susa and Persepolis are famous examples (the latter destroyed by Alexander
the Great in revenge for Darius I razing Athens to the ground). The great “hanging”

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botanical gardens of Babylon contained plant life from all over the Persian empire. One
feat recorded by Greeks historians describes an achievement that no other nation of the
period could dream of undertaking, probably because of its expense and the manpower
needed to complete.

In preparation for his invasion of Greece Xerxes built a great pontoon bridge over the
Hellespont in 482BCE (see drawing above:
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/images/FloatBridge.jpg). Herodotus describes the bridge
(2 bridges in fact, which lay side-by-side) in great detail. Great cables were used to tie
674 boats side by side over a distance of more than a kilometre, probably made of flax
and papyrus. There were 360 triremes positioned under the first bridge, and 314 under the
other. Engineers placed each of the boats together side by side and fixed them in place
with very large anchors. He goes on: ‘They left also an opening for a passage through, so
that any who wished might be able to sail into the Pontus with small vessels, and also
from the Pontus outwards…’ (Herodotus, vol. 1, 36) Wooden planks were then laid
across the cables, with brushwood and soil used to cover the planks and form a dirt
roadway. One of the bridges was used for the army to cross, and the other for supplies.
Walls about 9 feet tall were constructed from tree limbs, intended to prevent waves from
washing over the bridge and animals from panicking at the sight of the sea below.

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As the story goes, it took two goes to get the bridge up and running – when the first
bridge was destroyed by a storm, Xerxes ordered the Hellespont whipped with chains!

An exercise we can do in the lecture is to try and re-build Xerxes’ great bridge:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/sites/default/files/Bridges03.swf

In 2010, for the first time in over 2300 years, the Turkish government has commissioned
the building a new bridge over the Dardanelles.

Location of the Battle

As noted in the previous lecture, the straights of the Aegean near the Dardanelles has
been a point of contestation for millennia. What other famous battle happened for control
of these straights in the 20th century? Does anyone recall why the Dardanelles has been
important for empires and empire building?

Why was Thermopylae a good choice for the Greeks to mount a defence? Why was
Leonidis’ stronghold in the ‘hot gates’ successful (for a while anyway…)? The narrow
terrain was ideal for mounting a guerrilla-style defence of Greece. It was a good selection
of terrain where cavalry could not be used by Xerxes. Today, the spot where the battle
took place is a kilometre or so from the sea due to silting. Still, driving along the highway
it’s not hard to see how the terrain once came to a narrow funnel with hills one side and
the sea on the other.

Superior warriors?
The 5th century Spartan shield, helmet and lamellar armour were significant military
innovations at this time. The shield was strong, double-layered with a wood and iron
surface. It had an innovative design far superior to the Persian shield – with two straps,
the shield provided greater leverage, allowing the shield to be used as a weapon as well
as the sword and spear. As noted earlier, in the early days of Sparta each hoplite chose his
own shield design. This changed over time, an indication of growing state control and the

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uniformity of national interests over the individual, and each hoplite eventually carried
the same badge – as shown in 300, the letter lambda (for Lakedaemon, the proper name
for Sparta). These shield designs were noted by Xenophon in the early 4th century BCE.

In terms of shields, the Spartan hoplites had a marked advantage over the geneal
infantryman of the Persian army. The latter’s shield was made of cowhide and wicker –
paper!

The Spartan helmet was strong for protection as well, though vision was quite narrow.
The helmet worked ideally whilst fighting in the phalanx formation where the strategy
involved forward momentum by walking in a straight line. But the helmet was restrictive
in one-on-one combat and limited the scope of where attacks might be coming from. The
Spartans did have a marked advantage, though. The ordinary foot soldier of the Persian
army would not have worn a helmet, as depicted in the film, though Greek mercenaries
fighting for Xerxes would have worn similar armour.

Apart from this, the film 300 shows the Spartans fighting in only leather underwear, a
cape and shin grieves. In fact, the Spartans wore lamellar body protection as well -
strong, leather and linen strips in multiple layers which was good for resisting arrows.

The Spartan phalanx also fought to the rhythm of a ‘battle pulse’, meaning a charge
would take place at fast walking or running pace, then the phalanx would pull back. Each
pulse only lasted around 10-20 second pulses; it was not a continous battle.

Athenian naval power: Thermysticles

Absent from 300 is the naval battle happening simultaneously in the straights of
Artemisium. The point of this move was to prevent Xerxes landing forces behind
Leonidis. Leading the Athenian navy, Thermysticles was a brilliant naval and military
tactician. While the Athenians had an inferior number of ships to the Persians, he used
local knowledge of the straights to his advantage. Thermysticles also refused to engage in
the sea battle until he could even the odds – he did this by relying on the sunset, counting

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on nightfall to end the battle before the Persian fleet could utilise its superior numbers.
Eventually the Persian fleet withdrew from the straights, unable to land behind Leonidas
position and outflank him with fresh troops and supplied. The Persian fleet regrouped a
month later at Salamis – a naval battle that was also won by the Athenians.

Thermisticles was key to success in 480BCE because he took important lessons away
from the battle of Marathon ten years previously. He knew that:
- that the invader could not successfully deploy ground forces without naval
support.
- the Persians would not make the same mistake they had made at Marathon, when
Greeks butchered Persian before they were able to leave their boats.
- that naval power was the key to sustaining military strength in Greece.

After Marathon, Thermisticles won over critics in Athens and had the government use the
city’s growing wealth to invest in a massive ship-building exercise.

A naval battle was a ramming exercise, thru and thru. The Athenians had a fleet of newly
build vessels called ‘Triremes’. The fleet was used against Xerxes navy with astounding
efficiency. Triremes:
- were built for speed and to ram; front of the ships had iron noses designed to
puncture holes in the enemy boat from side on. Aim was to sink or disable enemy
ships.
- had up to 220 oarsmen; triple rows of oars
- the ram was most powerful at maximum speed (around 15 knots)
- Because they relied on rowing rather than sails, triremes could be used from
multiple angles against enemy ships.

The death of Leonidas

There are a number of theories why Leonidis’ chose to remain behind (along with 800
soldiers from Thespia), after learning he would be outflanked by Xerxes from the rear.

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One reason is possibly to improve the chances of success of a tactical retreat - to cover
the rear as the rest of the force left/escaped or was moving to gain a new defensive
position. Another is that he was trying to buy an extra day or two for the other Greek
forces to organise their defences further to the south. We could say he was fulfilling the
prophecy of the oracle noted by Herodotus – ‘a Spartan king must die to save Greece’.

(Photo above by R. Carr; statue of Leonidas at Thermopylae)

How accurately is Leonidis portrayed in the film, as king of Sparta?

He is supposedly descended from Herekles, which is based upon legend that the 2 kings
of Sparta are descended from twins of a line started by Herekles. So in that sense,
Leonidis does in many ways capture the spirit of Herekles. His hair style, beard and dress
are accurate for the day.

The end of the war: Salamis and Plataea

Artemisium was a huge success, preventing the Persian ships from landing behind
Leonidas. However, the Spartan-led force at Thermopylae was outflanked and defeated
because of the treacherous Ephialtes, who led to Persians to a goat path that rounded
behind the Greek defences. A month after Thermopylae, in August 480BCE, the battle in

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the straights of Salamis saw the Greeks defeat the Persians at sea. It was a significant,
decisive blow to Persian naval power (Bury and Meiggs, 1984, p. 176).

In August 479 BCE, at the land Battle of Plataea a united Greek force led by Sparta
inflicted a heavy defeat on the Persians. Bury and Meiggs say (1984, p. 184) at the battle
of Plataea, the Spartans (Lacedaemonians) ‘turned a retreat into a victory’. Bury and
Meiggs argue, ‘Plataea shares with Salamis the dignity of being decisive battles in the
world’s history.’ (1984, p. 184)

Conclusion: a view to the essay

The essay question for this topic is:

1. Discuss the power of myth in ancient Greek society and the foundations of pan-
Hellenism. Evaluate how successful historical films have been in informing
contemporary audiences of the Greek past (e.g. 300, Alexander, or another
example.)

Many aspects of Hollywood films about ancient Greece are tailored to suit contemporary
or “western” cultural values. One task in writing this essay might be to identify where the
filmmakers have conveyed an accurate depiction of the Greek past based on historical
sources, and where they have sacrificed historical accuracy to cater to modern cultural
values.

Contemporary themes you might like to explore in 300, Alexander, The 300 Spartans etc.
• Freedom and liberty
• Secularism and democracy in the “West” vs religious sectarianism in the “East”
• The positive value of militarism as opposed to that of diplomacy
• The idealisation of the military man as an ideal type
• Fighting to defend one’s home and family

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On contemporary cultural values, there are some comparisons worth exploring in 300 and
Alexander such as:
• Accuracy in regards to the theme of homosexuality in historical films – absent in
300 but prominent in Alexander
• Were women more empowered in 5th century BCE Sparta or 4th century BCE
Macedon?
• Has orientalism impacted on the making of these historical films?
• Does the use of modern film-making technologies in historical films jeopardise
accuracy and pander to globalisation?

In discussing the power of myth in ancient Greek society and the foundations of pan-
Hellenism (the globalizing of Greek culture and influence), you could examine ambitions
to build empires – particularly in Alexander – and why modern audiences would identify
with this, especially Americans. An interesting argument could be whether a film like
Alexander jeopardises accuracy and panders to global Hollywood culture or global
capitalism.

Source list
Bury, J.B. & Meiggs, R. A History Of Greece. Macmillan, London, 1986.

Cartledge, Paul. Spartan Reflections. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2001

Cartledge, Paul. ‘Another View; ‘Paul Cartledge, professor of Greek history, on 300’.
The Guardian. 2nd April 2007. URL:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/apr/02/features.arts, accessed 23rd November 2011.

Forrest, W.G. A History of Sparta 950-192 B.C. New York: Norton. 1963

P. J. Rhodes. A History of the classical Greek world. Blackwell. 2006.

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Said, Edward W., Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books. 1978.

Whitby, M. ed. Sparta. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2002.

For some (non-academically peer reviewed) comparisons between The 300 Spartans
(1962) and 300: http://iranpoliticsclub.net/history/300/

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